The death penalty is coming to an end. The movement toward repeal continues though
courts, legislatures and communities across the country. Now is the time to take action
and vote yes on an abolition bill. Even for those who philosophically agree with a system
of executions, we know that Kentucky’s death penalty is too unfair, risky and costly to
maintain.
The death penalty is unfair. An analysis of our death penalty system reveals a
defendant’s income level or race often carry more weight than the merits of the crime
committed. You are not only more likely to be sentenced to die if you are black; you are
dramatically more likely to be sentenced to die when the victim of a crime is white.
Furthermore, the Kentucky Assessment Team, which worked with the American Bar
Association to produce a more than 400 page report on our death penalty system, found
that the likelihood of a defendant facing death is highly dependent on the county in which
one resides. When it comes to income inequality and our justice system, author and death
penalty lawyer Bryan Stevenson observed in his book, Just Mercy, “it is better to be rich
and guilty then poor and innocent.” On every level it becomes clearer and clearer that the
method by which we choose who we execute is deeply unfair.
The death penalty is risky. The Kentucky Death Penalty Assessment report found that
50 of 78 death sentences had been overturned upon appeal, a reversal rate of 60% in
death penalty cases. It is easy to see why a majority of sentences are sent back to lower
courts. Kentucky does not have uniform standards in place for eyewitness identification
and interrogations; furthermore, the state’s public defenders caseloads are much higher
than the national average. Of the 156 individuals exonerated from death row since 1973
only one was a Kentuckian, but far more Kentuckians have
but (give the number, 9 10 14 whatever it is) wrongfully convicted Kentuckians have
been exonerated of crimes for which they did not receive a death sentence.
been exonerated from non-death sentences. Furthermore, when we look at all people on
death row we know that a number of them are innocent; in fact, the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences estimated that 1 in 25 people on death row are actually
innocent. When it comes to convictions there is always a risk we will get it wrong, but
when it comes to a death sentence there is no way to offer that individual relief. Death
Row exoneree, Randy Steidl, told Kentucky audiences when he visited the state, “You
can release an innocent man from prison but not from the grave.”
Finally, the death penalty is incredibly costly. In a 2009 Courier Journal article the
Department of Public Advocacy estimated an annual cost of $8 million dollars spent on
carrying out death penalty cases. More than a dozen states have tried to capture the cost
of death penalty cases and found evidence that they are up to 10 times more expensive
than other comparable cases. In California, a 2011 study showed death penalty cases are
20 times more expensive. Time and time again law enforcement experts have stated that
they count the death penalty among the least effective tools in reducing crime.
We know that the death penalty is unfair, risky and costly. This understanding is growing
among all Americans. Fewer and fewer juries across the country from Texas to Kentucky
are returning death
he Pew Research Center shows
continuing decline in support for the death penalty and growing support for abolition
among all political parties. The machinery of our death penalty is undoubtedly grinding
to a halt.
Join others in our progress toward abolition. Join us in improving our system of justice,
vote yes on repeal. Vote yes on HB 203.
